ProcessBuilder® is an integrated environment for steady-state and dynamic modelling of oil & gas, refining, chemicals, petrochemicals, and pharmaceutical processes. It is increasingly being adopted by process industry organisations seeking to deploy a single full-capability modelling tool across the entire process lifecycle.

A major new feature in v1.1 is a full dynamic simulation and optimisation capability for flowsheets involving key unit operations such as distillation columns. New unit operation models include distributed multi-stream heat exchangers, upgraded shell-and-tube and double-pipe heat exchangers, steady-state and dynamic pipelines, and pressure relief/pressure safety valve models. A set of ‘starting point’ templates and examples simplify the addition of custom unit operation models, allowing users to capture and deploy knowledge via their own corporate libraries. There are also numerous robustness, usability and speed enhancements.

ProcessBuilder is used for a wide range of applications from early conceptual design simulation to construction of plant models for online monitoring and real-time optimisation. A key advantage is the ability to perform large-scale optimisation, including mixed continuous and discrete decisions, using high-fidelity models. The recent PSE Advanced Process Modelling Forum in London saw numerous presentations on industrial optimisation applications that identified profit improvements of tens or hundreds of millions of Euros in areas as diverse as multi-site region-wide natural gas processing, refinery crude transition, and site-wide utility systems.

ProcessBuilder v1.1 takes advantage of many new features of the underlying gPROMS® platform, including new numerical solvers and symbolic model reduction techniques that improve robustness and significantly accelerate performance of dynamic flowsheet simulations; model initialisation procedures for hierarchical flowsheets to allow better structuring of large flowsheets; and added functionality to assist in initialising pressure-driven flowsheets.

Costas Pantelides, MD of PSE and architect of the gPROMS platform, says “ProcessBuilder is process flowsheeting for the 21st century. By leveraging the power of state-of-the-art equation-oriented technology, we are enabling companies to create new value from ‘already optimised’ processes, and build competitive advantage in a tight and rapidly-changing market.”